Making Greek Yogurt

I want to share some great sights and things that I have found for healthy recipes. They are on my pintrest account....the one that has fascinated me the most is the link on how to make your own greek yogurt!! I found that one yesterday and I am so excited to try it because multiple times I have wanted this 'jewel of health' for recipes but have held back because of the price!! Hopefully you will find this useful! 

Out of Town and Anniversary!

Well I have to say I apologize for the long space between my last blog and now! We have been very busy and I haven't had time to sit down and write. We were out of town for most of last week, my father-in-law was preaching in a city about 2 hrs away and we went to see him. He was preaching at the church in Blyth were our good friends are pastoring, Anna was actually my maid of honor in our wedding, so we stayed with them and had such a great time! Speaking of weddings yesterday was our 7 year wedding anniversary!! Its hard to believe that we have been married for 7 years, they have been 7 wonderful years and time flies when you're having fun! It has been such an adventure serving God together, loving each other and building our family. I couldn't ask for a more fulfilling life! :) I just had a girl ask me on Saturday why I was always so happy and all I could come up with is because I have nothing to be unhappy about. I know that my joy doesn't come from my outside surroundings but from inside. Sure I have things in my life that I could complain about but even on my worst day I am still saved and going to heaven and that is enough to give me joy. But even with that I am still incredibly blessed and that doesn't go unnoticed! 

Anyway back to our trip in Blyth...I did ok with my eating and staying on track. There were a few slip ups but I still was able to go down in my weight, I didn't even have a chance to workout all week! Getting back on track feels good, that first workout was the hardest to get motivated for but after I did it I felt great. It just proves the old saying "a rolling stone gathres no moss" I was starting to collect moss but I have successfully shook it off! The menu for the week isn't really made (sorry again!) We haven't had a chance to go shopping since we got back and I am just throwing meals together depending on what I have in my freezer! I have a reserve of frozen chicken, beef and vegetables for times like these. The meals are usually something simple like grilled or baked chicken with steamed veggies! Simple but healthy! 

Weekly Menu

Greetings! Hope all is going well with all of my blog buddies! We had a fun week last week, Trevor had off the week for Spring Break so we just hung around the house. I am a big 'homebody' so I love doing this! The only down side was Paisley was sick with some sort of virus she had a fever almost the entire week, but she mostly slept. Its never fun when your baby is sick!! I had to take her to the hospital so they could draw blood and I had to give them a urine sample from her. When they drew her blood I cried right along with Paisley! I hated that I was letting my little baby be hurt, it was torture! The phlebotomist was a young boy, he looked about 18 and he didn't have any kids (I asked him) so I had a very hard time letting him poke my baby with a needle!! But we all came out ok with only a little bruise to show for it. 
On Friday and Saturday it was just me and the kids because my husband took a van full of people from our church to a healing crusade in Mexico. Every year the churches in the Southwest partner with our sister church in Mexico and put on a huge healing crusade and it is always a powerful time!  During the three days there were over 600 people saved and 200 miracles! It is always so great to see God working! 


Well here is the menu for the week! 


 Mon-I wasn't able to make the baked chicken last week so it was dinner tonight! 
Baked fryer whole chicken with steamed broccoli and baked potatoes. I made homemade gravy from the dripping and it was really good!!


Tues- Pork and vegetable kabobs with rice


Wed- The tortilla soup from the chicken carcass, I didn't do too good last week sticking to my menu so there are a few repeats! Sorry! 


Thurs- Eggplant lasagna with green tossed salad, I will be sure to get pictures of this one and post it. My camera has no batteries and no matter how many packs we buy the boys find them and put them into random toys so there are never any working batteries when we need them!!! But I will buy some and find a good hiding place for them!! 


Fri-Soup of some sorts, probably the chicken tortilla soup from last week. 


Sat- Naan personal pizza. These are really great, me and the kids actually had them this last Saturday too, its easy and fun to make together! I put peppers, sauteed onions and garlic, tomatoes and spinach on mine and it was really good!


Sun- Keeping this open for leftovers or going out 


Hope everyone has a good week and I will try to update soon! :) 

Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheesy Casserole

A low carb creamy dish perfect for dinner

Minutes to Prepare: 10

Minutes to Cook: 15

Number of Servings: 5

Ingredients

Cauliflower, raw, 2.5 cup (1" pieces) Chopped 

Broccoli, raw, 0.5 cup, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Sour Cream, .5 cup 

Cream of Mushroom Soup, .25 cup 

Cream of Chicken Soup, .25 can

Shredded 2% Mexican Four Cheese blend, 0.5 cup 

Stove Top Stuffing Mix, 3 Tbls. unprepared

Directions

Boil 3/4 cup water, add cauliflower and broccoli boil for 5-6 mins until tender. Strain. Put into 9x9 dish add salt and pepper.

Mix sour cream, both soups and half of the cheese in a pan until bubble and hot. Pour mixture over the vegetables and top with remaining cheese and stove top. Put in oven and cook at 350 for about 5-10 mins until the cheese on top is melted.

Serving Size: Makes about 5- 1/2 cup servings

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 5
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 124.3

• Total Fat: 8.7 g
• Cholesterol: 17.4 mg
• Sodium: 313.9 mg
• Total Carbs: 6.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.5 g
• Protein: 5.3 g

Great Quote!

I found this quote and thought it was great! This sums up what I have thinking!!

Dr. Yoni Freedhoff:

 “Your real goal? Live the healthiest life you can enjoy, not the healthiest life you can tolerate. Yes, if you have weight to lose, you’ll have to make changes. But if you change so far from who you are and what you enjoy, odds are that it’s not a sustainable plan. Don't aim for your so-called "ideal" weight; instead aim for what I refer to as your "best" weight, which is the weight you reach when living the healthiest life you can actually enjoy.”

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/blog/the-healthiest-food-in-the-world#ixzz1t4vWs9gt

Weekly Menu

Monday- BBQ chicken, roasted asparagus and baked potato. Tuesday- Chicken fajitas mmmm.... no tortilla for me and I will limit the cheese and topp'ns! I will probably end up making it a salad. Wednesday- Shrimp and Quinoa (a new recipe, this one I will feature, the last new recipe I did didn't turn out so good, I have the pictures and will still post it but it wasn't that great!) Thursday- Bake chicken (whole fryer chicken) steamed cauliflower and broccoli with a pasta-roni for the family, none for me! Friday- Baked or grilled fish with a sauteed vegetable medley of squash, onions, peppers and zucchini and rice Saturday- Chicken tortilla soup, use the leftover carcass from Thursday. If you don't save your leftover chicken carcass you should they make great soups!! Sunday-Leftovers!! With all this food there are bound to be leftovers one of the days and those are easy!

Trip Review

Well back to the desert! Our trip was really fun and relaxing, we got to see some of our good friends and fellow pastors from the area and that is always such a joy! It was great to hear some preaching too, as a Pastor's wife you personally get sermons far and few between and a sermon with your husband sitting next to you is rare!! so that was a high point too! My husband is such a wonderful man and I appreciate him and his thoughtfulness! He surprised me with shopping money (woo hoo!!) and put such thought and plan into our trip, he planned special dinners (our favorite sushi) and things to make our time together special! He even skipped the 100th anniversary game of the Red Sox at Fenway Park to go shopping with me, now you know that is love!!! Thanks babe! The only downside of the weekend is Paisley got sick while we were gone, a sick kids is never fun. I took her to the doctor today and they didn't really say what was wrong just a bug I think I have a follow up appointment on Friday.   SO I have to say that I am really surprised about my weight after our long weekend in Redlands, I weighed twice just to be sure I was reading it right lol, I was down two pounds. I really did try to keep my food the same as what I do at home, but with my calorie limit I went over, then under, then over again. All my numbers for carbs, protein and fat where all over the board and everywhere in between! California law requires that you put calorie information on menus and order boards so that was helpful but some things we did eat (like the hotel breakfast) didn't have it. I tried to keep to my usual basic breakfast, they offered eggs cooked to order so I did an omelet with veggies and small amount of cheese. I took the nuts with me for snacks and then at lunch I tired to stick to salads and sandwiches (which I would only eat half of the bread). Even though they list the calories you still aren't sure what is in the rest of the nutrients and that is a challenge when you are trying to keep an eye on those as well.  But overall I think it was a great experience and good test for my new acquired information. I did splurge a couple of times but I tried to keep them healthy as well, a skinny latte rather than a frappuccino. So I am hoping to continue my downward trend, I think this week will be a challenge because sometimes I think that the weight I am reflecting is actually a week or so behind me? Not sure if that is true or not but it makes sense to me. Any thoughts?   I have to add, I know under normal circumstances the week before last would of been the week I stopped and retuned to my old habits. It was a difficult week and I was feeling like I was making no progress, but I pushed through it and am going to stick with this! So thanks to Julie, my mom and Micah you are all great motivation!